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TRP: Larkin, Mishka, and Roddy (Drifts)
WORD COUNT: 3045 Coyote: at 12:51 PM [ Day 177, morning. Mishka wakes up to find that Hansel is gone and has left a very alarming note.] A courier delivered Hansel’s letter to him around mid-morning. Mishka took it to his office and reread it a few dozen times, looking for clues and hints. Something was fucking wrong. I’m sorry, it said. That part was routine. Hansel said he was sorry a lot. When Hansel said he was sorry, it usually meant, Mishka, something bad happened and I’ve chosen to blame myself for it even though this clearly isn’t my fault at all. Please come rescue me from my own poor self-esteem and remind me how great I am. You are perfect and amazing and I need you to talk me out to this. Mishka kept reading the rest of Hansel’s note. I love you more than the every star in the night sky and every drop of water in the ocean, Hansel had written. I love you more than anything. I love your freckles and your scars and your scales. I love the gentle and stubborn way you love me. Yes, obviously. Of course Hansel loved Mishka that much. Mishka was great. They were married. Multiple times, now. The rest was the letter, however, was a lot more alarming. The letters were shaky and wet, as if he’d been weeping to hard to write. People I care about are going to keep getting hurt if I stay, it said. I can’t deal with it. I don’t know what to do. I won’t be able to live with myself if I let you try to save me and other people die because of it. People would get hurt. Why? Fucking why? Because of Gruumsh? Mishka set the letter down, and he paced, and he tried to figure it out. He picked up the letter and reread it. Set it down again. Paced some more. It felt like he was missing something. There was something very wrong here. Nothing like this had happened before. He checked the envelope one last time. Maybe there was something else in there, another note, something he’d missed. His fingers found something in the corner… a small, hard lump. The scrying earring. The scrying earring? . A ice-cold chill sank into Mishka’s stomach. Why… why the fuck had Hansel left the earring behind? The only point of the earring was to check on each other. Wait. Wait. Hang on. Mishka’s thoughts moved rapidly, one snapping right after the other. Hansel left the earring behind so Mishka couldn’t see where he was. Hansel didn’t want them to see where he was so they couldn’t find him. If Hansel killed himself, then Goro would just use that ugly black wand to revive him. Hansel left the earring behind so they couldn’t find his body when he killed himself. “You motherfucker!” Mishka snarled. He threw the silver whiskey tray against the wall, shattering the crystal and glass. # As soon as Mishka realized what was going on, he was filled with white-hot rage. Rage this had happened, rage at Gruumsh. But this wasn’t the usual, jumbled anger. Mishka’s head was clear. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to murder a god. Goro was right. Goro had been so right all along. Mishka was good at teleportation; he would research spells until was strong enough to teleport them to the Outer Plane, where the gods lived, and then Goro would cut Gruumsh’s throat. They’d take Roddy and Raef, too, and Larkin; they would all help. Fuck, Mishka would take Jonn with them. Jonn would help them murder a god for his dad, right? They’d kill all the gods. Any god that touched his husband. Right. But the very first step of this plan was Find Hansel. Because the biggest danger to Hansel right now wasn’t a god; it wasn’t a dragon; it wasn’t Hansel’s disaster husband or his disaster boyfriend or his disaster children. Right now, the biggest danger to Hansel was Hansel himself. . And Mishka was going to save him. He was going to find him and gently talk him down and get all the weapons away from him. He’d slip the scrying eye back into Hansel’s pocket. He’d follow Hansel around quietly, invisibly, to make sure he didn’t jump in the ocean. And if Hansel did jump in the ocean, Mishka would jump after him and teleport him out again. Okay. So. Step one. Find out where Hansel went. Shepherd’s Hill, Goro had said, to visit his mom or something. The plan might’ve changed since then, but it was a good starting point. # Mishka went to find Goro, first. The half-elf was still asleep in his room. He’d cried for hours last night, curled up against Mishka’s chest. He still looked fucking exhausted. Mishka shook him awake gently. Goro snarled like an angry cat and cracked his eyes open. When he saw Mishka, he narrowed his eyes, then grasped at him, trying to drag Mishka back into bed. “Hey, hey, hey,” Mishka whispered, gently prying Goro’s fingers away. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” He kissed Goro’s forehead fiercely. “I love you. I need to go find Hansel. I’m going to go alone-- I need to move as fast as I can. Something’s wrong, I’m worried he’s going to fucking-- hurt himself, or--” Nine Hells, that was just going to horrify the poor guy again. “I just mean-- he left the scrying eye behind, and he’s never done this before, he’s never run off--” Still worse. “I need to go find him,” he whispered. “I love you. Stay right fucking here, okay? I swear to god, you motherfucker, if you fucking run off again, I’ll just come find you again. I’ll buy bloodhounds. I’ll give them every scrap of clothing you own to scent you. I’ll pay for scrying spells. Stay.” . He kissed Goro on the mouth, just in case Goro really did run off and this was the last time Mishka saw him for a while. Then he kissed Goro again, once more, just to tide him over. He smelled like alcohol and morning breath, and he looked ridiculous, with his mussed hair and crusted eyes, still wearing the same clothes as last night, and Mishka loved him anyway, every piece of him. “Stay,” Mishka said, pointing at him, and left. He grabbed his panic bag from inside his office. Two changes of clothes-- a commoner’s set and a fancy noble’s set-- a dagger, several pouches of emerald dust chalk for teleportation circles, basic navigation supplies, a few thousand gold, and enough dried rations to last him a week. He slung the bag over his shoulder. He grabbed the cloak Goro had given him for Candlenights, put it on, then headed out to go find Larkin and Roddy. Muse: at 1:09 PM Roddy was feeling restless. He'd been prowling around the castle, on pins and needles after his recent mission with the Sanguines. He wanted to talk to someone about it but Goro'd looked like some sort of Lich so that had been out- so he'd ended up on the balcony instead. Where it was freezing and the wind was blowing and Roddy should just go back inside- except the wind had also blown his hat off. He leaned over the railing, frantically scanning the ground. Oh thank goodness it hadn't fallen in the moat- and there was Larkin! Looked like she was smoking. "LARKIN!" he yelled. "HEY LARKIN! CAN YOU GRAB MY HAT? IT FELL OFF!" Jen: '''at 3:36 PM Larkin had tried her best to get Goro interested in the topic of how to fucking end Morgan Wyn but as it happened, he was already busy breeding a mood. Again. She'd decided it'd be best to fuck off for a while and try again later, when he'd hopefully gotten ahold of himself. On the backside of the castle, she'd found the perfect corner to just lurk and not be disturbed for a while. Out of the wind, and the snow, and line of sight. She lit a cigarette, one that Cat had rolled for her, and idly watched the snowflakes, winter birds and hats flutter by. Wait, hats? And didn't she know that one? Wasn't that- ow, yep. She grimaced at the shriek that followed from up above on the balkony. Sure enough, there was Roddy, waving to her. Not out of all lines of sight then. Dammit. It crossed her mind to just ignore him and continue her smoke but there was no good reason to be a dick to the kid. Other than him being loud and disturbing her bad habits. She took a last drag of the cigarette, then gestured with it to Roddy to signal she'd understood, and flicked the butt away to go catch the hat. '''Coyote: at 3:48 PM Huh. That sounded like Roddy yelling. Mishka checked out the balcony. Yep, that was Roddy. He silently padded up behind Roddy and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey Turtle Kid.” Muse: at 3:51 PM "ITS HEADED THAT- AAAA!" Roddy screeched, jumping- not a good thing when he was already mostly hanging off the edge of the balcony. Normally he was pretty graceful. Normally he wasn't already overbalanced and then had that made worse by being startled. He kept screeching as he tipped over the rail and started falling for the ground below. Jen: '''at 4:01 PM The hat caught on a hedge for a second, and it was enough for Larkin to snatch it. At the same time, Roddy's background yelling turned into a screech. She spun around just in time to catch a glimps of a tortle sized chunk tilting off the balcony. '''Coyote: at 4:03 PM Oh. Whoops, Mishka thought mildly. He cracked into midair in an instant, then cracked them both to the ground. He did it so fast, though, the teleportation fucked up a bit. Roddy landed in a snowdrift a few feet away. Mishka teleported inside a snowdrift, completely covered several feet down. He coughed on snow.(edited) Muse: at 4:06 PM Roddy hit a snowdrift, ducking in a ball. Ow ow ow- ow? Hey. He wasn't as hurt as he thought he should be. He got up, dusting the snow off, poking and prodding at himself. Yep. Fine. Huh. Must have landed on his shell or something. "Hey Larkin, thanks for catching my hat!" he called and started heading her way. Jen: '''at 4:14 PM "Shit!" was all she could yell befor Roddy hit the ground. Or- not hit the ground. Disappeared from mid-air, then reappeared with a burst of snow in a drift a few paces off. She started running towards him but he waved to her and seemed perfectly fine. "Fuck," she blurted. "The hell was that?"(edited) '''Coyote: at 4:20 PM Mishka struggled out of the snowdrift. He brushed himself off, then dug his panic bag out of the snow and heaved it over his shoulder again. He heated his body all over, and the snow melted and evaporated in a gust of steam. There. All fixed. “Sorry,” Mishka said. “Y’know, maybe I’ll start wearing a bell or something when I walk around. I swear to god it wasn’t intentional that time.”(edited) Muse: at 11:14 PM "Uh-" Roddy looked around, from Larkin, to Mishka, the disturbed piles of snow all around, and the balcony for good measure. "First-" he said, pointing to Mishka, "maybe you better. Second," this time he pointed at Larkin, "I think that was Mishka." Yeah. That explained everything. "Hey thanks!" he said, taking his hat back and settling it back on his head. There. All better. (Now just don't think too much about how hurt he could have been if Mishka hadn't saved him.) February 5, 2019 Jen: '''at 8:53 AM "Okay. Yeah." That kind of checked out but didn't make it any less weird. At least Roddy hadn't gotten hurt. Larkin looked back and forth between them, then decided she'd been part of this long enough. She tucked her cold hands into her coat and turned to go back to her smoking corner. '''Coyote: at 9:02 AM “Hey, hang on, hang on.” Mishka grabbed her by the arm, then dropped it immediately, figuring that was too far. “Larkin— Larkin, I need your help. Goro’s fucked up. Hansel, ah— Hansel fuckin’— they broke up or something. I don’t know, it’s complicated. Listen. I gotta go make sure Hansel’s not dead, I don’t know where the fuck he is.” Muse: at 2:51 PM Hang on. Wait a second. "Make sure Dad's not dead?!" Roddy keened. All thoughts of his previous mishap gone. "What happened to Dad? Is he hurt? Where is he?- you just said you don't know- this is baaaad." Jen: '''at 3:04 PM "What happ-" Larkin started but Roddy drowned her out. She waved a hand at him, shushing and trying to shut him up so Haeth could talk and tell her more how Hansel fucked Goro over. Was that why he'd been so miserable again earlier? Fuck. Well, at least that'd settle her dilemma over whether to put a foot of wood, feathers and steel through Hansek's throat or not. '''Coyote: at 3:16 PM “Shh, shh, shh,” Mishka said, patting Roddy. “It’s okay.” Behind his back, so Larkin could see, he motioned in thieves’ cant: Not okay. Danger. “Everything is going to be fine,” Mishka said soothingly. Help, he motioned frantically to Larkin. “Hansel and Goro got into a fight,” Mishka said. “Some bitch attacked Goro, broke his fingers— a half-orc woman named Gavi, apparently. So. New rule. No more fucking strangers in my fucking castle. From now on, if anyone else wants to fucking live here, they can fuck off. If somebody else wants in, we can vote on it or— something. Anyway, apparently tensions were high and Hansel and Goro got into a fight. Hansel fucked off, I think he went to his mother’s. I’m going to go check on him and make sure he’s okay.” Muse: at 3:22 PM Roddy bit his knuckle so he'd shush while Mishka talked. That didn't sound so bad. Well kinda bad. But not death- bad. ...Goro did have a real talent for chasing people off though huh. "Can I come?" he asked quietly. Coyote: at 3:26 PM “Ah.” Mishka was torn. Normally, he’d be fine with it, but— hours could matter, here. “I don’t think I can take you with me, motek. I need to overtake him on the road. I’ll be riding a light horse and moving fast. But you can Send to me and I’ll tell you once I’ve found him.” Jen: '''at 3:37 PM "What's up with Goro?" Larkin chimed in. She wanted to go to him right away but also needed more details. "What'd Hansel do to him? And who the fuck broke his fucking fingers?" '''Coyote: at 3:46 PM “I don’t know about the fight,” Mishka admitted. “He was, ah, pretty fucking upset last night. Couldn’t get many words out. Just said Hansel left— and hated him now, or— something... it was disjointed.” Mishka rubbed the back of his neck. “I just don’t— I don’t want him to fucking run off again. I don’t know where the Gavi asshole is.” Mishka started listing traits, everything he could remember. He’d caught a look at her in the hallway when she moved it. “Half-orc. Long black hair. Medium brown skin. Burly woman, tough. Early thirties, late twenties. Carries a battle axe and a shield, usually, looks like.” Muse: at 3:52 PM Roddy made an impatient noise, flapping his arms around. "Why are you talking about the orc woman when Dad's in trouble?!" he shouted. "If your in- in a hurry then! Act like it!" Jen: '''at 4:16 PM "Mask." Larkin dragged a hand over her face and nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna go take care of that idiot. Don't worry." She knew it. Fucking knew it. But no one ever fucking listened to her and then shit went south. Wasn't even something to pride herself with, some kind of superior insight, no. Just simple, common fucking sense. Like with that Gavi bitch. That's what happened when you just picked random people off the street and let them live in your damn castle. Good god.(edited) '''Coyote: at 4:29 PM Ha. Something about her looked a bit like Corven, for a moment. It was the dark look in her eye, covering concern for Goro. “It’ll be fine, motek,” Mishka said to Roddy. “Be careful, and be safe. Keep spying.” To Larkin, he said, “You’re a goddamn viper. If you run into Gavi before I get back, give the knife an extra twist for me.” He went for the stables, trotting lightly across the snow. Jen: '''at 4:36 PM Something- some weird impulse made Larkin want to pat Mikhail on the shoulder, or say something encouraging. Not because she cared about his feelings but because... well, maybe it was the shared burden of worrying for Goro. She didn't, though, and when he turned away, so did she. Roddy was right, no time waste. If Hansel was gone, Goro would probably get it into his head to go after him at any moment. '''Muse: at 4:42 PM Roddy gave a little nod, watching Mishka head for the stables. Larkin walked off- probably to check on Goro. She was good at that. Roddy stayed put. He was still standing there when Mishka came out of the stables, watching as he rode off. Roddy was worried. Mishka was saying everything would be fine- but also that there wasn't time to take Roddy. He shivered a little- the cold was starting to get to him. Or maybe it was the fear too. Maybe Roddy'd go find Joan- hang out with her a while. Try to distract himself from- all this. Yeah that's what he'd do. He really hoped that Hansel was okay. February 6, 2019 Muse: at 4:58 PM END Title: Drifts Summary: Mishka tells Larkin and Roddy that Hansel abruptly left in the middle of the night after Goro was attacked by Gavi. Mishka goes after him. Larkin stays behind to keep Goro safe. Roddy worries about his father. Category:Text Roleplay